Altar Tools: The Altar

This is our altar after cleaning...

This was the mess it was after Yule (a crystal grid was in the center)

I started by removing everything and dusting the top.

I added the must-have elements—the altar cloth, our plant, and the ashes of our past cats.

Then I added our offering chalice, incense dish, and bell. I added water and lavender incense for cleansing.

Next came the cauldron and tongs,

some decorative elements and tools,

loads of dried flowers and plants from our gardens and our adventures,

the offering bowl and mortar & pestle,

crystals/spheres,

and finally, the athame/scissors and detail pieces.

I thought I’d start this series on altar tools with a rundown of the altar itself. After Yule, I refreshed our household altar and chronicled it above. Michael and I both have personal altars in different parts of the house, as well as an outdoor altar, and our mantle often serves as a temporary altar.

The altar is often the center of a witch’s sacred space, the place where she does her work, everything from rituals and purifications to offerings and spellwork. Anything can serve as your altar—desk, table, shelf, box you can stow when not in use, even just the floor. It should be large enough for your work and comfortable for you to use. If you leave your altar out all the time, be sure it’s in a place where you can safely have open flame and leave out herbs, resins, liquids, and more (i.e.: someplace your pets can’t reach).

Ours is a mahogany dresser we bought from a garage in a rainstorm when we first moved into this house. It was stained so dark we couldn’t see the wood grain and coated in a thick layer of varnish, crackled and cloudy from years in the damp garage. We used it for years in that condition, finally refinishing it solely to be our household altar. So, it has a long, personal history with us. For me, that sort of connection is ideal, but not necessary. Find something you like and build that kind of history with it.

What you put on your altar is entirely up to you—whatever serves your needs, brings you calm, and helps you focus. Ours leans heavily on nature, but you may want to be more deity-focused or elemental-focused. Some core elements are the cauldron and/or offering bowl, candles/holders, athame/knife/scissors, wand, censors/incense burners, bells, chalice, crystals, herbs, and personal elements.

Your altar and its tools don’t need to be static. We often change our tools and offerings with the seasons—the sabbats make great reminders to cleanse and freshen the altar.

If you’d like to read more on building an altar, The Witch’s Altar is a good general reference and a quick read. The Green Witch contains some suggestions of tools and shrines specifically for green witches. And Scott Cunningham has good information for traditional or wiccan altars.

Next I’ll look at the witch’s cauldron.

The Green Witch’s Oracle Deck pictured above on our altar in one of our white oak card stands.